"Hehehe, I'm flattered you think so highly of me but I'm no assassin." Fang Yuan chuckled.
"And what you're offering me isn't enough to make me do all the dirty work,"
Earth held out her hand, "It was never my intention to."
"You just possess something, no, someone I want,"
Fang Yuan smirked, "You want her to be your avatar?"
"Yes."
"She's not as capable as Feng Jiu Ge and her unique physique is not as good as Ma Hong Yun's, but she is the rare natural combination of both and a direct counter to Heaven!" Earth was determined.
"Kekeke, so in addition to her, you want me to provide Immortal Gu and a promise to aid in your battle against Heaven?"
Earth nodded, "Indeed, knowing him, he's probably prepared to do something drastic and reckless now that he knows I'm back. So why not do something even more reckless!"
A sly grin spread across Fang Yuan's face, "And my payment?"
Earth snapped her fingers a light window appeared, it displayed a man sitting in a cross-legged position, an Endless Knot symbol dangled above his head.
It was none other than Feng Jiu Ge.
Another snap of Earth's fingers closed the window, "It's all yours if and only if we succeed."
"Tempting, but I'm not interested in the Great Dao of Destiny."
!?
Both Earth and Star Constellation were surprised, but for different reasons.
Star Constellation was surprised that Earth would give Fang Yuan a Great Dao in exchange for aiding to kill Heaven.
"With two Daos, I'm afraid he could stand toe to toe or even rival Primordial." she was worried.
This was bad news for Heavenly Court, they had been gunning for the long game.
They wanted to have a steady stream of powerful Venerables and Dao Emperors, creating an indomitable era for Humanity, one that the Heavenly Dao couldn't take away.
Earth was surprised that Fang Yuan wasn't gunning straight for the Great Dao of Destiny, "After all, it is still a Great Dao, did he sense my intentions to bind him using it?"
Indeed, the Great Dao of Destiny was a trap, or at least to Fang Yuan, it would be considered one.
All other Great Daos would have tempted Fang Yuan enough to act, but the Great Dao of Destiny? Forget it!
"If I hadn't received those memories of the future, I might have considered it!"
The Great Dao of Destiny was incredibly strong, even amongst Great Daos, but the wielder of the Great Dao of Destiny wasn't necessarily strong or weak.
They became illusory, almost like a ghost, no one could control or wield Destiny, not without Fate.
Without Fate, the world would take charge and create its own Destiny, Feng Jiu Ge was allured at the idea of championing and leading that wave, singing their stories and writing their names down in the river of Time.
And that's exactly what the Great Dao of Destiny would provide, a front-row seat to history, present and future!
But that's all one might as well aspire to, a Heavenly Scribe, to be fair it fitted Feng Jiu Ge, he wasn't interested in fame, glory, money and power.
He wanted to encapture and express the Heavens, the Earth and all creation in his songs.
Although he wrote 9 songs to achieve this, he felt that they were lacking, achieving the Great Dao of Destiny would allow him to reach far beyond what he was currently capable of; to create his 10th, 11th or even 12th song!
To Fang Yuan's surprise, he actually did manage to achieve this!
But in the future, he worked hard and long to finally reach this point, with the aid of the Great Dream.
Yet, even when the world burned before his eyes, all he could do was watch, and eventually, even he would perish at the hands of…
Fang Yuan shook his head back to reality, "I only want 3 Gu from you."
!!!
Earth was taken aback, "Oh? And what Gu would the mighty Heaven Refining Demon Venerable need from me? Or is it a Gu in Heavenly Court's possession?"
Star Constellation was still pinned to the ground, but her mind was still working, "3 Gu…could it be!"
Fang Yuan shook his head," There are many Gus that I can replace with the right deductions, but these 3 are of particular importance to me; Earth Gu, Fire Gu and Light Gu.
!!!
Earth smiled wryly, "So that's what you're after, the perfected form of the Dao of Elements."
"Unfortunately, I can't help you, I have none of the Gus you seek," Earth shrugged her shoulders, understanding Fang Yuan's train of thought,
"Sure, we can stay our hand when it comes to you taking Light Gu from Giant Sun, but we won't help you with the fallout between allies, and once we kill Heaven you can have his Fire Gu, but for Earth Gu…I'm at a loss as well."
The irony wasn't lost on her, Earth being unable to find the Earth Gu.
Fang Yuan stared in silence, seemingly in thought.
Suddenly, he broke the silence: "Ok then, consider this a first-timer's discount."
With a wave of his hand, Ying Guang Xin appeared before them.
"I've already briefed her on everything, but keep in mind, even I can't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do."
Ying Guang Xin's aura has been on the rise, an indication that Heaven was getting stronger.
"I'm only doing this because I want to regain control of my life from Venerable influence," she was fearless before the 3 powerhouses before her, even though any of them could wipe her out with a thought, she possessed the legendary Freedom Gu!
Though she had no control over where it would bring her or where it would go, she still had the assurance of her guaranteed survival, it was only because Fairy Zi Wei was being taken care of and sheltered by Fang Yuan, that she worked with him.
Earth was radiating her usual positive motherly aura, "My my what a positive young girl you are, a reincarnation of the dreaded Spectral Soul, severed from most of his karma, if you didn't inherit those memories you would have been a true newborn."
"I can give the wisdom and potential to match and surpass Spectral Soul and Heaven," Earth offered her hand, "But you'll have to trust me."
"Yea," Ying Guang Xin looked back at Fang Yuan, "I have some ground rules."
"Name it."
"First, after this is done I never want any of you to come after me or Zi Wei again," Ying Guang Xin's eyes were firm
"I can promise that," Earth threw a glance at Star Constellation.
"You have nothing to fear, once Heaven and Spectral Soul are gone we have no business with you, in fact, if you promise to work with us we'll guarantee you a comfortable life," Star Constellation said as she was sprawled out on the floor, despite her pitiful state her voice still held the conviction of a Venerable.
Ying Guang Xin turned to Fang Yuan, casting a reproachful look.
"Fine. I'll never find you or Zi Wei again, go live your lives together, as long as you don't stand in my way."
Ying Guang Xin nodded, "Unless it involves our lives, we'll never meet again, now swear it on your Daos!"
Earth, Fang Yuan and Star Constellation made their oaths using their Daos.
To swear on the Dao meant that if the oath was broken not only would their Dao shatter but it would take them along with it.
It was the absolute highest level of promise that existences of their level could make, and for Earth, it was even more so, as if she were to break her oath, then the Heavenly Dao would strike her down!
Ying Guang Xin shook Earth's hand, a bright white light enveloped the room.
When the light dissipated, Earth was no longer standing there and Ying Guang Xin had her eyes closed, meditating.
"They're going to take a while to get used to each other," Fang Yuant then turned toward Star Constellation, who was still pinned to the ground.
"That's my part of the bargain upheld now it's time for me to claim the first half of my reward," Fang Yuan snapped his fingers to dispel the rest of his Dao Killer Move, "If you'd be so kind as to bring me to the competition stage please."
Star Constellation brushed the dust off her robes, "I've managed to learn quite a bit from his Dao Killer Move, and I'm confident in being able to dispel his moves with more ease in the future.
There was merit to be gained from this encounter, Star Constellation was caught off guard at first, but she used that shock to her advantage and continued playing 'innocent' while formulating her plans.
"Ultimately, this deal still works in our favour." Star Constellation thought to herself, what she actually did was open a portal, "Be my guest, I won't stop you."
"Hmph, but Red Lotus and Genesis will, is that it?" Fang Yuan saw the loophole in her words.
"They won't, it's just that if you had stepped forth first and acted before I even had a chance to inform them, then it is hardly our fault."
Indeed, the oath wasn't completely unreasonable, there were ways to wiggle through some minor loopholes.
For example, since Red Lotus and Genesis Lotus weren't part of the deal they would suffer no backlash from breaking the oaths that Star and Earth signed.
And since, they haven't crossed the line and outright deny Fang Yuan from getting Light Gu, Star Constellation and Earth would just experience mild to slightly discomforting pain, stemming from the pressure enforced by the contract.
Of course, it was just to compel them to uphold their side of the deal, it wouldn't do any real lasting damage unless they went back on their word.
"Not following through is not going against," Star Constellation wagged her finger, "Also you were the one who wanted to go in first."
Fang Yuan smiled outwardly, but inwardly, "This b*tch."
He gave a polite bow at the entrance of the portal, "Ladies first."
Star Constellation waltzed in with no care for what Fang Yuan was thinking.
"This is gonna be a pain…"